This dialogue ran from 22 November 2009 - 17 January 2010, after which the artists were invited to discuss ideas for new work. The dialogues have now ended, but you can see and engage with the development of the selected proposals here.
Adriana Berrio
Monica Rubio
Change of arms//other arms //other weapons??
I just Found out there is a group of women that have been sewing their pain in the north of colombia. I am so amazed that I dont have yet words. I love the project, I love what they have done.
It is sadly all in spanish, but the fabrics are shown in the documentary…
Is it too bad to have the same intention in my project!?
life// title
I don’t know how life works, but I know that everytime you are really engaged with some project or idea, life brings presents that are related to it. For example, I met a girl, 2 weeks ago, who is working with an organization that works with women, and with the peaceful route of women on historical memory!
Now they are very interested in the project of the large embroidery, because they are looking exactly for that kind of projects for the women they work with.
The feeling is that I must engaged to this project because there is really a lot of women who need the space and the activity of bringing from their past their memories and leave a legacy on their experiences. They are eager to talk and express themselves, because they do not have the chance to be open to almost anyone because it is of course dangerous! I went to do some research on fabrics, and threads, and it was beautiful and moving for me, to just imagine how this fabric would look after being embroidered by all this women. And imagining that I must be very very strong to cope and listen to all this stories. But on that issue, I have had the same feeling for a long time, that I must confront and be open to this general pain that occurs all around, instead of running away avoiding this reality, I give a lot of thought on the victim/victimizer and that somehow, We ARE ALL victims and victimizers at the same time. So it is a bit like erasing myself, to become others, to understand others, to live what they have been through, it is a way to comprehend and give my heart to the people that needs it. But it is also creating from true stories, from the core of reality…
I’ve been reading a lot of different things. For example I found a writer which gave me a great idea for naming the project: “cambio de armas” which literally means change of arms/weapons, which is the title of a feminist view from the dictatorship inArgentina. The author name is Luisa Valenzuela.
She has a great book of short stories, and Cambio de armas is about a women who has amnesia and she has a lover who comes every now and then. She feels real only with him and also uncomfortable, but she doesn’t understand who he is and who she is. Finally, he tells her, he is a Collonel and that she was a revolutionary and they were enemies…
This title and of course the story stoke me, because I want to talk about memory/amnesia, femenine/masculine, and I’ve been realizing how the needle and the thread can also be a weapon/arm, but only that it works the other way around: creating and not destroying, sewing the wounds, reconstructing memory….In english it is also change of arms, because the idea is to make an embroidery route, changing the arms, the women the stories theplaces and renewing the memories, recoverying from the past, assimilation of the conflict, giving it some perspective….
So i think finally a title came to my shore…
I must leave now, work is calling me…
Proposal form
All our artists are invited to submit one or more proposals for new work, individually or collaboratively, by 1 April 2010. Please click here for the form:
new life// change
I am no longer living in the artisitic residence. I am living in some other place, full of new experiences, near to a town called Villa de Leyva, the place is called el Arca verde. It is lost in the mountains, and we live in a very rustical and simple way.
The house is a Maloka, which is circle house, traditionally build by hand, by the indegenous in many aereas in Colombia. It is an Ecoagricultural hostel, where you can learn bio-arquitecture and permaculture. I am very happy to live here now. I have been travelling around Colombia for six months now. This place is the most interesting one until now. I wake up very early. I go every morning to the vegetable garden, then to the mountain and offer my day. There is a stream where I like to go an think and make little “sculptures” with stones. I also work building the new guest house, and of course cooking.
Here I am posting pictures of the new landscapes and some of the food
tangle//disentangle: embroidery comes from memory
Embroidery came up to me in a very magical way. I love this craft because it is very symbolic way to manuver your thoughts. My grandmother had the Alzheimer disease; she was a very refined embroiderer; she had it from her mother who was even better and I presume it goes beyond her… I am the oldest child, the first grandchild. As I lived in Barcelona, my grandmother was diluting and deleting herself…everyweek she forgot something, and it never come back to her again. Meanwhile I was in very difficult situation, because I became illegal from one day to the other because of a new law…anyway embroidery was not something I did. When I was most desperate I woke up one day with the will to fix my clothes. As I bought the threads and needles, I was feeling surprisingly excited to do it. When I started, I felt as if there was a thread floating in my back, piercing me and flowing through out my hand… It was magical and powerful; I felt a such a joy, I knew this feeling from nowhere but I felt so familiar with the craft. It was my very first time embroidering something, not just using needle and thread, but making a drawing, making a creation with it.. From then on I couldn’t stop .. I spent the whole week embroidering all my friends clothes, every hole, every horrible t-shirt became suddenly soemthing else…My mother called me at the end of the week informing me that my grandmother had forgotten how to embroider; I told her, no, she passed it on to me. My mother didn’t believe me, I had never been interested in any of my grandmothers crafts.
Nevertheless I felt included, I felt I belonged to my family in a new way, and for the first time….in some untangible way, we could communicate and I was bond to my grandmother and my great-grandmother and so on…
Embroidering makes sense to me in a very emotional way. It helps me disentangle my mind, and it gives me the sensation of being attached to a past memory that is far behind my knowledge and my conscience.
MemoryIdentity Craft
I think most of the hand crafts have a very special power, because it is a relationship with materials, with memory, it is a communion, it’s like a form of grace, when you know something that passed through you from your ancestors. Transfers into you, and then you have to use beyond the way they did it.
I have been using embroidery in non traditional way. In fact I don’t like to learn formal stitches, I like to invent or to be not so skillful. I like that embroidery has the power to transform any line into something else. I think it is because of the power of time. The time it takes, and also becasue it is a tangible line.
All the women in my family (around 15 of them) have been gathering together every tuesday to knit, to embroider or to make simply any hand craft they know. The power of this meetings its that they help each other, they talk about their lifes, their children, their families, their problems, they exchange recipees, and they also have piggy bank in each house and they save money for a special dinner at the end of the year.
The idea of gathering women from around Colombia, and generate a space in which they can interact, and exchange their stories, comes from here I think. I believe that when you create something that comes out from your sorrow, then it takes antoher meaning, and it is not only sorrow, but also is life connected with the divine, a new meaning. it is yourself creating something with your own hands. Getting women together and making a piece of fabric filled with all they consider worthy of remembering, it is weaving the country memory.
It is an act of “exorcism”. And it is a beautiful way of screaming and bringing to the present the terrible results of this war…
large embroidery
iaa will require a project (working) TITLE by 1 April.
The BUDGET should reflect the realistic cost of the specific activity you intend to undertake, in line with a TIMETABLE. Since at this point I am not aware of the details of HOW exactly you anticipate the production of the embroidery/textile piece, I can advice on a ‘wide brush stroke’ approach - the budget should comprise of material cost; participants’ fees (how many participants? what’s the local fee per diem?); travel & location cost (where is the activity going to take place?); subsistence (1 meal per diem and refreshments for how many people?); miscellaneous (post, telephone); contingency (10% of total production budget); anything else specific to your activity?
PLEASE NOTE: at the moment iaa is not asking for a detailed budget breakdown. an overall/approximate production cost will be required by 1 Apr.
“women don’t bare nor raise children for war”
It is amazing how when you have an idea, life brings to your shore lots of information concerning to this idea…I have been meeting, “out of nowhere”, women who work with displaced women or victims of war…. There are many and different kind of women’s associations throughout the Colombian territory that have a way to work out the pain, the sorrow, and have a broad conscience of historic memory. The hard part to define, is if I should go to different places or if I should just stay with a group of women… But I mostly feel that it should be a moving project. Recently I have made contact with a group of women that have a very interesting project, called The women’s peaceful route, ( this is one of the statements they shout when they march together “women don’t bare nor raise children for war”) they gather to travel thoroughout Colombia giving support to the other women victims of war, and making different symbols to express their thoughts, for example, they literally wash the blood from the colombian flag, because it is all stained with blood (which reminded me of my handkerchief washing the blood away), they protest making conscience about Glyphosate which is the is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, especially perennials. It is typically sprayed and absorbed through the leaves, injected into the trunk, or applied to the stump of a tree, or broadcast or used in the cut-stump treatment as a forestry herbicide. That is what they used in Plan COlombia which is the Plan USA and Colombia have in order to wipe out Coca plants that are for most of the indegenous groups a sacred plant, the glysophate also contaminates the rest of the vegetation and water…
Now, there a lot of courageous women who have lost their families, but also give support to other women in the same situation, so it would be interesting to maybe work with small groups of women from south, north east and west of Colombia…
About the title I have a to give it a deep thought, because it is something that will come out but I dont know exactly how would I name this project yet…
Can I ask for help with how to make a budget, I have never made one and I would like to know how organize it properly, I feel this project would take a while because embroidering is a slow technique, but also because I think it is important to work with women before embroidering, and consider what should be stitch, what would they stimate that should be never forgotten and how to solve it out.
My intention is to open a space of reflection, to give them a chance to express their experience and transform it into something “creative” but also as to make a big embroidery document of historical/ emotional/ memory of their traumatic experience and give it a sense from a different perspective.
Embroidered memory.
embroidery/memory/healing
a very strong project, Adriana. it would be good to start thinking about the pragmatic aspect of the production (budget?). also, what’s the title?
embroidering//memory//healing
It is proper to expect art to heal your sorrows? or at least to make sense out of them…?
When I think of making an embroidery group of women that have been through this colombian absurd money/drug war, or massacres or displacement, I feel they can use a needle and thread to leave a sign of what they’ve been through, to leave a memory that is made stitch by stitch, with a craft that demands your constant attention, concentration and creativity…it is like a meditation, I ‘ve noticed that when my mind goes away from the work, threads become entangled.
.
One of the products of this work would be the collective creation of a big textile piece embroidered by many women, where they register/stamp/imprint some of their stories, those worth remembering, those they don’t want to be forgotten… the stories can embroidered as personal maps, diagrams, plans, routes, etc…
At this very moment of my life, I feel the intense need to create in a collective way, I have had the feeling, many times now, that creation is not worth it if it is only to create a minor experience, I want to create a challenging experienced through and with others…make a bigger sense of it…
At the moment my life is changing like I’ve never thought it would. I left my house, and I have been travelling around Colombia. I have worked in many things, and finally at the moment my family turn their back on me, which led me to search for new ways and new places. Lonelines has been an amazing teacher for life. I have no fix home, I have learn how to be alone, and trust life further than what I see, this strenght that comes from deep inside me is nothing compare to what I have seen from women who have had violent experiences, that are so terrorific that one will think they will never come out…but surprinsingly a lot of women do pass this turbulences and appear with renew faith in life…this is what encourages me to talk and to work with this women…
what do YOU want (really)
back to basics - (I) what do YOU want to say? (II) how is your desire going to inhabit the language (medium) you intend to use?
looking for Monica
I’ll chase Monica… meanwhile, be good if you could think about how the ‘embroidery & memory’ projects relates to NOW
thinking
where is Monica now?
I’ve been thinking about historical memory and the way to use embroidery as a way of keeping this memory. Please Monica say something…
I have talked to women who work with other women in war, in Barranca and I think I would love to work with them, they have a very “nice” and interesting story to tell about how historical memory.
What do you think???
a man displaced
a woman sited?
Tzvetan Todorov
I’ve been reading Todorov this last days. “Abuses of memory” and something like “the displaced man” (“El hombre desplazado”, but I wouldn´t know the exact name in English). So, about historical memory: I would like to say something about it, based on my readings on Todorov:
Historical memory “serves” for
-the recovery of dignity
-recognition
-assimilation
-new meanings/ (resignificación)
-turn the past into a principle of actin for the present
And one of the things he states, that is for me the most interesting one, is How to use memory, reminiscence: Literally or exemplary. In which he indicates how when you use memory this way is intransitive, leading nowhere, submitting the present into the past, as a way of keeping yourself closed or trapped in the past. Is the “why?”
the other way of reminiscence he states is the exemplary, in which you use what happen as a way of understanding, taking a lesson out of what happened, it helps neutralize the pain, in order to use it as a principle of action for the present, movement, transition…
So, I am reading all this to state what place to take as an artist, what attitude is the adequate, because I am no life saver or hero, I just want ot open a space and provoque or arouse to an experience, a creative experience….
Making a big fabric with these women and embroidering our own personal maps of the roads we had walk…and making sucha experience as a place of reflection, and as Todorov says, making the past as a principle of action for the present…
animation
animation, embroidery, women, residence, portraits.
Let me elaborate on that. I have been very busy but things are starting to boil.
Speak soon.
Animation.
M
‘The Bayeux Tapestry’
70 meters long embroidered cloth — not an actual tapestry — which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England as well as the events of the invasion itself.
Thoughts for new project
Dear M
How are you??
what are up to? what do you think about this next step!?
I am very excited!!! I have some ideas, they are still developing inside me…
I have an idea concerning various issues:
first one is embroidery as a way of leaving a memory, second is to create a “costurero” (sewing group?) with women who have directly suffer the consequences of war, and invite them to stay at the residence on Earth(where I will be finally living through out this year) for a period of time, like a week, and involve my work in the kitchen with them also… and Ask you if things come their way, if you will like to come and take part and document this experience…
This are my first thoughts for the project, I would really really like to know your opinion and your ideas!! For example wouldn’t it be nice if we collaborate with each others projects?? I would love to take part on your projects!!
Please tell me all your thoughts about all this and about your proposals!!
Dying of curiosity,
a.
‘divine intervention’
in relation to your desire “to say something about all this violence in a way in which you can transform pain…” check what Elia Suleiman, Palestinian writer/director says about the transformative power of cinema (link below). if you get a chance, see his film ‘Divine Intervention’
El Salado/ massacres/risk and resilience
Good morning Dear Monica
I saw the complete documentary and believe me it stroke me, I took some notes and a gave it a time of thought. In fact historical memory it’s something I have always wanted to work with and maybe this is the time and the opportunity to give it a chance. But, I have to say something that I was thinking, last night as I watched all the documentary; lots of things came into my mind: one of them was how to say something about all this violence in a way in which you can transform this pain into something sublime. Newspapers and news on tv are precisely recalling on this , naming violence and informing about it:That’s it. But if you compromise the work with this situation ( and I do feel I must) you must transform pain into something, right? For example, the people who returned to El Salado after the massacre, had been through a lot in their lifes, but decided to start to build everything up again. That kind of acts are memorable,shows integrity, determination and strength of mind and I Believe that it is the only thing that is valuable in these traumatic situations: the way out, capacity to get over it, that is what we must learn and seek… For example there are here, in Colombia, lots of women who have been victims in this war and they do amazing things like for example, the women in Choco, who declared their bodies as firts places of peace, as living symbols, and they are widows and women who have been through very difficult circumstances, they make a kind of performances to give people a consciousness of the consequences from violence. This kind of acts for example, and there many many more I would love to talk about them to work with people who can pass through pain all the way until they have something for them so valueable that can no longer be taken away.
A very close friend of mine was kidnapped almost 12 years ago with her sister. Their family suffered very very much,her parents got very sick and the situations was terrible. When she came back from her kidnapping I recall that we were all very angry and full of rage and wanting somehow a punishment and a revenge. And surprisingly she was was talking about forgiveness which I think is the higher way of reparation and the true way to real peace making in this country. We have been trapped in a cycle of revenge and hatred that is unstoppable and is causing the perpetuation of violence, because this is a primary need, the instinct of revenge. I would like to work on the reflection of forgiveness. True forgiveness…how to forgive, not forget, but forgive, Resilience, how to get over violence to make up your life again, to start over….that is what I would like to think about…
I must go now, but I am excited to think about this new phase of the project, making it happen…
Thanks for the El salado Documentary…
Please tell me all you think I will share my notes later on…
big day
big hug
xo
a
next step
Hey Adriana,
How are things at the residence?
cooking nice healthy food, I guess.
Have you checked the set of instructions for the next stage in the process? Exciting.
Get your arse moving and let’s start talking about what on earth are we going to do. How is it you access to internet at the moment?
Just to start rolling the ball, check this link. Please ignore narrative even its aesthetics I just want you to concentrate on the subject and let me know what you think:
Here a photo of last friday’s encounter with Tony Blair
Speak soooooon
M
finally finally finally
yes, indeed it has been ages …time has been running crazy here, we have been very busy with workshops and meals. From today I was ask to take part of the organizing team, to take the project as mine also which is greaaaaaaat!! Now we have a lot of work to do finding funds and all that…I wish you could come!!!
the workshops have been wonderful, we have been drawing from so many different perspectives from making stamps with erasers to making comics, fanzines, creating other worlds, dancing and drawing…it has been great! really great!
I didn’t get about the thing you won… I didn’t understand it…tell me about it!
How is all the material of the trip coming along? it must be very nice to see it from your house, no?
from the present moment…I like to see things from that perspective, that is when everything starts to make sense… don’t u think?
here some daily life in the market place and in the work shops!
oX
a
back
How are you dear Adriana? It feels like ages we haven’t spoke.
I have been busy working. The weather hasn’t been kind to me, I just want to sleep.
I won a ballot to see Tony Blair at the Iraq Inquiry www.iraqinquiry.org.uk
Apart from that nothing really exciting happening here. I have been watching all the material collected during the trip and trying to give some sort of sense to it. It is fun and relaxing. We think we are going to show some of the work in progress towards the end of next month. We’ ll keep you posted about it.
Enjoy the good weather over there.
X
M
sweet?
… and sour too dear Adriana. One can not live without the other.
Enjoy the recipes. Make one on me.
Something with mango and chillies.
Speak soon. I am working, trying to be back but my mind is somewhere else.
M
close to me?
is sentimentalism a strategy equivalent to cynicism?
monica’s wishes
I love your wishes
you are very sweet
I am so sorry i couldn’t come this week to the internet
i was thinking of you all the time
how are you??
here at the residence it has been WILD, a lot of people
a lot of cooking, a lot of workshops, meals, information, etc…
I haven’t had anytime, I am devoted to making recipes, I am sad that I am hardly drawing but it is also nice to design food and menus and combinations!!
I will love to keep in touch with you!
but i will be very seldom here in the web… until i come back to bogotá
i hope I can send you more images then.
I hope all your wishes come true
best day for you,
a.
THANKS
dear friends:
thanks for this wonderful project and for all of you, best wishes and new projects!
love form the tropic
a
hell
A,
The idea of hell having fire and lava and smoke is totally false. Another one of those lies we have been forced to believe.
Hell is actually cold and humid and grey and has a slow internet connection.
iaa dialogue official end date 17 Jan. however…
some dialogues will continue
thank you everybody
and good luck in your future endevours
Monica
after midnight
Thank you!
Those of you who have expressed interest in communicating beyond today’s end date can do so by either continuing the current dialogue, or by migrating to another ‘country’ and establishing a dialogue with a new artist/filmmaker. The IAA team will stay with you.
Thank you…everyone.
Love,
Ana
migrate
let´s migrate to
http://www.tumblr.com
we can continue with this discipline of writing and creating something. I still want to animate some of your embroidery work. I can´t do any embroidery but will give it a go.
Hope the weather is good for you. I am suffering like hell.
Speak soon.
M
what do I want?
I want to help the people in Haiti.
I want to comment. To give opinions.
To experiment.
To contradict myself.
To read more and write more
I want to motivate.
I want to have more time…
I want to be more curious and never afraid.
To develop a language and a grammar.
To criticize and to be criticized
to construct and deconstruct…
And also very importantly…
I want to laugh .
What do ‘I’ want?
“All blueprints of what people should be like are at once denials of reality and attempts to create it anew. It is one of the peculiar characteristics of human wanting that it always involves being persuaded about what it is one should want. This persuasion, which takes many forms – from brainwashing to education, from seduction to conversation – is one way of describing the experience of growing up in any society.
The wanting without which human survival is impossible is symbolically organised; wanting is inextricable from what our societies tell us we should want. If our loves and hates, our likings and our curiosities, our passions and aversions ‘come under conceptual definition, manipulation and control’, then there is no natural state in which we can live, or to which we can return. Indeed, the whole notion of a natural state, or significant origin, is itself one of those culturally generated conceptual definitions.”
Whether in country of origin or in country of destination, one burning question seem to overlap - What is it that we really want? What do you really want your art or filmmaking to do?
Menus/Residence/life/struggle/fine
Yees!
I am back in the residence, only that now I am very very busy, and it has been a BIG thing to come to the internet today!
I am waiting for you video to download because i am at the telecom and the internet-ironically-its reaaaallyyy slooow…at the same time i am updating from your posts which i hadn´t read in the past days…
Oh I would love to travel to those “other worlds” your are right now into…
I wish i had more time to sit and answer everything… i am no catholic either, I understand you perfectly!! although i think I do have religious tendencies, or the tendency to believe in god, but i got to IT.. without religion, maybe it came to me through Biology! really I don’t know…
thanks for sharing your travel with me…
i am sorry for the airport situation…was it because you were colombians? who were you with…you always talk about “US”, but i dont know who you are reffering to…
You know I lived in suba hills for a long time, it was where I think a lot of my life develop!! funny I love cachasa also!
Well i am very tense because I have to go back to serve dinner, i am a bit exhausted and this only just begun…22 days left….
I need a stimuli to go thorugh life right now!!
I hope something outrageous happen that really brought a REAL change in my life…
i feel I’ve running in the same place for ages…It’s horrible to feel this way…
well anyway
I am making notes on the menus to show some of them
It’s been an experience to be cooking for a lot of people, and to make eating time a different thing, at least fun and surprising…
Well dear dear Monica!!
I hope you had a nice return to the “sunny” london…and i really hope you dont get depress!!
if you come to colombia we must meet!!
you can contact me through flickr!(Lady Bionika)
We are devoted to drawing in the residence with workshops everyday…
tomorrow there will be a workshop on comic!!
hope to be back soon in the net!
love and kisses,
a.
(today we are having tuna souffle with carrot and apple salad, yogurt dressing, and Lulo juice)
back at the residence?
Hey,
Just wondering where you are. Again another amazing day in Jerusalem. Its like a non stop learning experience.
We are getting back to “sunny” London tomorrow and I am praying to every single God known to the human race that the weather is not going to make me fall in a deep depression.
Apparently it has been snowing every single day, low temperatures, shortages of salt (food again), transport chaos bla bla bla. I am back straight to work so hopefully my brain will be so busy I won’t have time to complain. I love snow though.
Food of happiness…
[flickr video=4264867965]
Speak soon.
M
answering questions…
I am back in Jerusalem. Some details of our last supper in Ramallah and our wonderful friends/hosts.
Wonderful people. Sad to leave.
To answer some of your questions:
No, I didnt’ go to las Pachas I went to Pureza de María. No, I am not religious at all. In fact 12 years of catholic education seemed to be waisted now that I am in the Holy/bloody land. I coudn’t remember even where Jesus was born. The Nazareth/Belen stuff was totally blurred in my mind. Last time I went to Bogota was two years ago. I went to pitch for money for a project and I didn’t get it. Buuuu. Next time I will go… hopefully, maybe, April,May. I am not sure. It really depends on the amount of work I have and money as well. Going back home is always more expensive that expected. I always try to travel around and bring people along and that can be pricey. Plus little presents for friends and family, plus dinners, plus, plus. It seems this year is going to be quite busy for us which is brilliant but that means less traveling. My favourite place in Bogota…I guess climbing the hills in Suba and see the sunset from up there. Last time we did it we drank a few bottles of brazilian Cacasa and got really drunk. It took us hours to find the way back down to my parents flat.
I am not sure what do you mean by:
I think that when one comes to its birthplace only for a while, everything that happens takes another meaning…don’t you think??
My battery is running very low now. I better publish now before it dries. Tomorrow will continue answering your questions and move forward. Sleep well. Your food looks delicious. Meat in salsa, Rice and plantain cake (I guess).
M
PS: I forgot to tell you. My friends left before us and were badly questioned at the airport. One of them stripped naked. Paranoia total. Estado militar. Miedoso.
Girls day out
Women farmers in Al-Kader near Bethlehem.
I spent the day with these women who cultivate a piece of land (well, what is left of it). They grow thyme, honey, olives and make marmalade and dried grapes (pasas). The translator couldn’t come along so I spent the whole day with these girls talking about their lives and the land. What they eat and not eat. Arabic and spanish have many words and phonetics that are very similar. The Mores invaded Spain and left things like almohada (pillow), ceituna (olives), camis (shirt), pantalon (trousers), baranda. Towards the end of the day I was understanding so much of what they were saying that I honestly thought I was loosing the plot.
We had time to talk about shoes …
Drank coffee…
… and black tea with mint and a bit of sugar…
… a bit of gossip about Ibrahim who was desperate to have his picture taken…
… more coffee…
The girls…
Food of war…
HOPEFUL AND FAITHFUL
I don’t see where somebody post something in our blog…!! 
Do you mean someone left a comment? But it is nice if someone participates….even though I havent seen the “occupation” you are talking about yet… ups! show it to me please!! I am very curious…
Why do you get itchy!!!??
Well, today is my last day in Bogota. Things have been very weird, i came for 15 days and I felt time went through me deeply…it has been so INTENSE….uffff! I am much better now. I have given a lot of thought to HOPE AND FAITH,I think that is because I’ve lost a friend, a very dear one, and his death has kept me thininking about life, and about its real value and where it relys…
When was the last time you came to bogota? do you come often here? Which is your favorite place in Bogotá?? you know we have never had a conversation about this..weird… I was wondering in which school did you study? I was in Santa Pacha…for a moment it crossed my mind that you were also from that schoool…but i have no idea… will you like to come back and live here again?
I think that when one comes to its birthplace only for a while, everything that happens takes another meaning…don’t you think??
For how long do you plan to stay in Palestine??
it must be amazing to be there…tell me more about it please!!
That meat in the photo…what do you intend to do with this pictures? what are you looking for over there?
You have such a perspective of things in your photos that make me want to ask you many things…why this,
love,
a.
occupied blog
Hey Adriana,
Just noticed someone has left a post on our blog.
It felt weird to see someone else there.
In Palestine. I guess I am just itchy about space and land even if its virtual.
Besos.
M
balata
Balata Refugee camp. Impressions.
I am loving your mum’s recipe notes. My mum as well has a big collection of them. I have always wanted to do something with them…
In the past I have experimented cooking in big amounts for lots of people. I won’t tell you the results just yet. Good luck. Soups are good idea, rice not so good.
Love from Palestine.
M
heading back
Dear Monica!!
How are you??
How is your trip going?
How is your project developing?
I am -as funny as it may seem-, concentrated on food also…I am designing all the menus for the residence, which is a hard work, specially because I dont know the people’s taste and because we are offering just one menu…so it has to be balanced and everything… I’ve been reading recipies for the last 2 days, reading my mothers cooking books, notebooks, reading blogs, researching through the internet and inventing my own recipies too… I have the feeling that I only cook with the same ingredients always…
new things are difficult to add like broad beans or other things that i would like to experiment with…but I don’t know how to manage this new ingredients, so i have to used my imagination and taste 
… there are in fact so many mixtures to make, flavors, textures, etc… but experimenting for new people is a risky task…Although is very fun!
I have two more days here in Bogota, and then I finally continue with my old plan which is going to the residence…
I wanted to keep on travelling but I have to solve how to make some money for the way… I hope I do…
My mood has been progressing considerably… things got on the road again and for a few days I have a fixed destiny…
Now let´s see what life brings to us this year!!
I have to go now
but I hope to “hear” from you very soon!
love & hugs
a.
surreal new year…
We spent new year in a bubble. Went to four different house parties in the best areas of town. Gigantic flats, minimalist decor, very european, continental. A bit bland a characterless. Lovely people, very young, palesteenians. Sorry no images but I decided to leave the camera at home in case I got very drunk, which actually I didn’t. Bu…
As a friend of mine once told me: The difference between a party of people in their 20’s and people in their 30’s is simply that the ones in their 20’s fuel themselves with alcohol and no food. On the contrary, the ones in their 30’s drink alcohol and food is a must. We were soooo hungry we started to eat carrots. Long life to 30’s parties!
Soldiers everywhere. Very foggy night, La Calera style. Weirdly reminded me of Bogotá- Teusaquillo-Los Rosales-Avenida Circunvalar.
The view from my room:
This is going to be amazing… I can feel it.
Happy new year Adriana.
Mucho amor.
Monica
BLUE moon, New Ear
Hazem and all at IAA:
Cambridge BLUE moon, turning the last pages of the 2009!
Wishing you many inspiring days in the coming year, and a very Happy New Ear (as my son. profoundly, used to say!)
Issam
monica/palestine
Dear Monica
First of all, thanks for the offering of your family…but as I said, everything relys inside me! but really thanks for the offer! I have my parents home..but not my own place…it is difficult to come back to your parents house under certain circumstances…I am feeling better today!
In regard to your wonderful palestine posts, they are amazing! the video from the butcher is incredible, really great!! Also thanks for the “Tabloid” and the strength! I needed it…truly!
It seem as you are entering in some other completely new universe. I like the things you see, the details you are focusing on… NICE to travel with you all the way to Palestine, my friend is there with husband and children, but I really don´t know exactly where she is…
How do you plan to celebrate your last day of the year, you are probably already in new years eve, or even you are already in 2010!!! uuuu
Any way happy happy happy new year
really I wish you all the best
I am happy to have you as a partner through this dialogues
I hope we can meet this new year somehow!
I send you a big hug, best wishes, a toast (with whatever liquor you like) I like champagne!
I hope to follow your trip all the way
take a nice picture of yourself please to complete an image of you!
Let’s celebrate life!
hugs
adriana
Russian Salad!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Throwing a handful of Russian salad over the net to you!
Let Us all end up face down in our own Russian salad tonight!
Happy new year/weaving/webs/net
When you feel everything is somehow connected and we are all joining a big net
life takes another meaning. This project is a big net that is full of significance also.
I love being part of this, and it is nice to read and get to know others process and thoughts.
I Wish you all a wonderful new year; truly great, full of adventures, joy, neverending curiosity for things to come, creativity, love and inner peace!
best wishes from Colombia
Adriana
Happy New Year 2010 !
Best wishes for the coming new year !
Andro
Transmitter_BASE2F, by Yu-Chen Wang and Andro Semeiko, 2009
food war
food is fuel…
To Palestine today. Send me your friends details…
As I said before the journey is just starting…
A less religious day today. Thank God for that!
I will post a few images from there.
My stomach is behaving really funny at the moment…
I love your mum’s fridge.
M
thankful
Dear Monica
I love your post
It moved me a lot
thanks for using my words in relation with your photos
Are u already in Palestine?
funny another friend of mine is also there right now
I am starting to see the light behind the obstacles
But it comes very slow
I have taken some photos of my life in Bogota
food and parents fridge full of fruits
my mothers healing hands ( she kneets all day long)
corners of my parents house
tell me please about your trip to Palestine… I am very curious!
have a happy new year…Any way I’ll post something tomorrow again for the last day of the year!
question: do you want to continue with the IAA dialogues?
I will love to…and I hope you too…
portrait of a trainee butcher
[flickr video=4229036866]
jerusalem…..
Hey Adriana,
Hoping things are better for you back home. Let me know if there is anything I can do. Remember that my family lives in Bogotá Suba, so there is always someone around…
Wet, wet, wet. Today Jerusalem. Overwhelming. People have so much faith. Being a non religious person it is quite overwhelming to see so many people, so different, so close, so pious. Puf… I finished the day absolutely exhausted. My energy has been sucked out my body with a hoover or something like that.
Here a few impressions from today:
The wall
The mosque
The church
Just impressions…
Love
M
amarillismo.
The best translation I found tabloid.
Nothing is more amarillista that our own reality.
Jerusalem. First day. About to have breakfast.
Will give you my impressions tonight.
Raining.
All my strength to you my friend.
M
deconstructing…
“…insight reflections”
“finding some peace…”
“I have no home…”
“money beyond money”
“the place in yourself…”
“Where do I find hope?”
[flickr video=4225421689]
“webs and mandalas”
“embroidering pain”
“searching for answers”
The journey is just about to start dear friend…
M
drifting/place/art/self/sense
Hi Monica
your christmas seemed very nice and warm! thanks for the photos and the sharing….
news here are all about insight reflections. I am standing nowhere, still not finding answers and trying hard not to fall apart. Complications have come and I am feeling thorn apart. All the plans I had, suddenly changed. I am doubting about everything. Curiously I am finding some peace in this project. Like an island of safety. I am nostalgic towards the end of this IAA project, coming sooner than expected: it is funny how time passed so fast here. I have the feeling I would really like to do something about this… I need to get some energy. To hang on a project. Coming back to Bogota put me in a perspective that is very hard to look at… I have no home, no money and as Breda said in recent post, “- the fact that whenever money becomes a basic value all other values seem to disappear”. I am thinking a lot about this. the reason of money beyond money. The place you obtained in relation to others when you have no money. the place in yourself. I am in a constant revision of myself. It is something difficult to endure. Where do I find hope? I need hope. I am craving for hope. The “funny” thing is that without money hope is like a dream. But it is the only thing you have, the hope of improvement. The hope of finding the right way, the best way for yourself to be alive. To stay present and creative. But the truth is I am lost. And I don’t know where I am heading to… Money is the ticket to ride, I am in a situation that is making me constantly look for sense, in a spiritual way. And somehow it is shameful to put things in a materialistic perspective… I’m immersed in my work, drawing webs and mandalas. Houses are confusing. I dont know where to land.
You know, I think, we should do something for real. I mean now that you are in Palestine and we only have few days left. We should develop something meaningful through this dialogues. We are both Colombians, women, artists, creative. At least we should try to say something about it… no?
I would say that my work here in Colombia, it’s not interesting for galleries or so. Or maybe I just dont know how to get in.. I feel my voice and my work reached Breda more than people here. Breda gave me hope in my work. It was like, hey what you are saying it’s meaningful for somebody. But for example here, not with artist, but with people that is out of artistic context, embroidering pain is like an absurd and dramatic and “amarillista”(how do you say that!!?), thing to do, it is like more bad news!… I would like to give my work a more philosophical view. I am suposse to meet somebody who is willing to give me a hand on this… I am excited about it… I am looking forward to make more research on the meaning of what I do…
So, I dont know how to find a place for me here….I am at that exact moment… searching for answers on how to build my life once again…
Sorry if I am soundind dramatic… I cant help it…
Please send me photos or your travel!!
All the Good luck for you, have a wonderful trip overthere… and please take good care
a.
( the muchacho was delicious but not handsome!)
cats
I am just guessing but I feel you like cats…
The way they observe…
wait…
move…
M
muchacho
Just hoping the muchacho you eat was handsome.
M
navidad!
Felices fiestas for you dear Adriana.
Yes, we have survived another christmas. We were happy and very merry. Friends, food and alcohol. Even a christmas tree:
We eat and danced and eat and danced.
Our table:
Some of the mariscos we eat.
And the afterwards:
I cooked the escalopes: Very easy to make.
This morning traveling to the airport. The whole city of london totally desolate.
Eerie, cold and beautiful…
Just arriving to Tel Aviv. Running out of battery as always.
At the hostel.
On telly, an Argentinian soap opera with subtitles in hebrew. Classy. Lost boy. Unfaithful boyfriend. Pregnancy, abortion, guns and lots, lots of swearing. mmmmmmm…
Sleep well. And lets speak tomorrow
M
Bogotá
Yes I am back in Bogotá…
Merry Christmas!
how did u celebrated?
I was with family, in Chia, freezing… I am not use to cold any longer!!
I came back and I have been drawing something new,
webs or mandalas or something that is like a weave
It is very interesting to do it
it’s as if the spider had really gotten into me…which is nice!
I maded Mango chutney for Christmas Pork…. we eat Pork and muchacho…
What did u have?
When are you travelling?
are u already in Palestine?
food and home…
are intrinsically related. Are you back in Bogotá yet?
The spider looks monumental.
I guess I am a bit nostalgic.
Want to hear from you soon.
besos mil.
getting ready
to get married!
food
Served Table #1
Served Table #2
for lunch: pop corn, soy meat, rice, passion fruit juice and salad
Residence on Earth/Louise Bourgeois/Santiago Escobar & Mauro Vargas/ Colombia/ spider
Hello Monica, sorry I was a bit lost, but this week was only hard work all day long!
and I was also in charge of the Kitchen, with help of course, but deciding what to cook eery day for every meal! It was amazing time!
Today I’m back in Bogotá, and I really want to share with you the images from the spider….
I hope you like it!!
In regard to your question about colombians pointing with their mouths…It is absolutely true!!
A lot of people remark this gesture in colombians…why is that!!!?…I don`t know… Maybe we have an oral fixation as as Shakira says…. 
I also love your chocolate pudding! that photo is very poetic!
Here some more photos of the spider process…
I took some pictures of the food, but they are not very good…I wish “el niño dios” brought a camera to my hands…I feel helpless without one! I am going to make a new post with a few phtos from food that I took!
The Residente 13, the spider, such a great project!
pointing
Hello dear A,
My cousin’s husband to be has been living in Colombia for a few months now. Being himself a migrant, has opened his eyes to mannerisms that we sometimes overlook. One of them is the fact that we colombians point out to people, things or even directions using our mouth instead of fingers. Weirdly enough my colleagues at work have noticed me using the same gesture. It made me laugh. Do we all really do it?
Self portrait of colombian pointing to an out of focus tree.
palestina.
Excellent idea. At the moment I am in Verona. Just for two days. My cousin is getting married and we came to be with her. Let’s start our new project on monday. I will keep you up to date with my wedding weekend. As you probably know, italian weddings are a bit different than ours. Here is about food but not much dancing.
My first italian image for you. Merengue with chocolate.
There are new people in the dialogues. Have you checked them out?
The Louise Bourgeois spider was here at the Tate modern. It is an amazing structure. She is a remarkable artist.
Are you making the structure in bamboo or guadua? A friend of mine who is an architect has been working with guadua as the main material in his buildings. The stuff he makes is affordable and esthetically wonderful.
Well, the feast is about to start. My cousin is wearing a white dress with no sleeves tomorrow. Poor thing is going to freeze to death. Will post you the photo.
Can’t wait to see the images of the spider.
Sleep well
M
Palestina, Caldas
You are an amazing photographer!! like your pictures very much!!
about Palestina I was thinking that maybe it’s not possible; I have to go to Bogotá next saturday, and I’ll be back in january! so I will not be here maybe whaen you live to Palestina… it will have to be this week!…sad!
But I definitely feel that we should do something because time is running out… and it is exciting to do something together…
We could start seeing in which points do we meet, or what kind of things we could use to work together in someway…
My proposal is that we mix our interests, meaning we should do something about food, our actuals homes, the people we live with, the things we eat, or something like that… I would like to show for example todays lunch, and the way the table is serve, and the kind of food that we eat, and narrate you things about our daily life….maybe…? but also I’ll also show you my drawings, and the things I embroider, etc…
I think this is just a first idea…but what do you think?
Today we are starting a project here in the residence, to build the spider from Louise Bourgeois in bamboo…it’ll be amazingly big and it is going to be in the middle of the forest…. we are very happy, the architect/artist of the project just arrived today, so we will be busy around here this days….
think about my proposal I’ll show what happens around here!
all the good fortune for you
a.
countryside
Went to the countryside during the weekend. Ran out of battery. Visiting people. Beautiful light. Sharp cold.
A bit of fresh air.
Palestina sounds like a great idea. Let’s definitely make something, embroidery/fotos/food/war. cool. Is this Palestina Caldas?
I am not sure the exact date I will be there but will let you know ASAP.
I actually like your house piece. It has some vaginal connotations. ..
I haven’t been homeless for a while but we always “adopt” people on a temporary basis. I guess is an integral part of being an immigrant. Not having a place to go back. Our last homeless friend was Julian. A friend of my brother. He stayed with us for a few weeks.
Here some english countryside for you before my battery died…
Apparently children are told this big massive power stations are the places where tomatoe soup is made.
Papaya for breakfast rocks!
hablamos soooooon
M
day to day
these are images of or daily life in the residence
kitchen: papaya for every breakfast
intimate map
how are you??
I hope everything is fine.
Very near from here, there is a town call Palestina
when are you going there?
maybe I could go to Palestina also and we can make something of it!!!
I am gonna make more photos of daily life
to show you more
green greetings
a
house to house
I have become a house
My own house
I feel it everywhere I go
I live in me
I have no house to go back to now
which is weird
and strange for me
I have always
had a place to go back to
now, I am Homeless, to say it somehow
or I have become a travelling-home
I am a place myself
My house, housemane
it grows
it keeps me warm
how are you feeling today?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
/ \
\ /
\ me /
\ _ _ _ _ _ _ /
|
|
)O(
_/|\_
|
/\
_||_
walk to work
año, uña, ñato, niña, niño, moño, coño…
walk to work
christmas…
walk to work
My beautiful cactus that flowers in winter…
Inner – inside – into – within – inland – turn in – in – indoors – inward – live
everything in me is going inside
so deep in
I cannot follow
where am I going?
Am I lost?
inside my voice
there is another voice
that never speaks
is the voice of silence
that voice is calling out loud
quietly
calling my real name
but I cannot hear
calling to go out side
but I cannot listen
I aim to the birds
that embroider
my road
I cannot recognize
the texture of my skin
the humidity of my eyes
the yellow bloom of my heart
I am a thunderstorm that falls quiet
What kind of moment is this?
I silently reply
the moment of truth
of which I know very little
digital virtual embroidery
A,
Send me a photo of the kitchen where you are working.
And the lovely food I am sure you are preparing…
Hope to hear from you soon.
M
bitácora
I could not describe my bitácora as beautiful. Believe me.
Diverse, yes.
Frentic, maybe.
fragmented, definitely
but it helps a lot.
I just spoke to my mum. She called to wish me good velitas day.
Is bank holiday today there. Nice.
Hope you trip goes well. Let´s make some digital virtual embroidery to take with me on the trip.
Relax and enjoy nature. Solitude is sometimes a gift.
M
uribín
Yes, I heard all about it. I can´t believe is true he was sentenced to a few years in prison.
Justice is a laughable concept there.
The most surprising thing is that people still love the guy. He might be reelected and all that. Politics in Colombia is like in the wild west. With bandits and all.
I can safely say I do not miss it. Then again here is pathetic too. The main difference is that people don´t kill each other.
Less blood.
M
food
everything we do is political.
m
heartbreaking leaves
that bitacora must be a beautiful thing to see!!!
I do have like a sketch book also, but I tend to be very mystical about creating, which I think is something that only complicates it more…
Hey! going to Palestine seems something great and this project sounds very very good, but do you want it to be a recipe book or is it more like a document about food in war?… truly political!!!
Have you heard about the colombian guy, an art student, that through facebook was captured as a terrorist, because he created a group against jeronimo uribe, the president’s son????? I’m astonished! we should say something about it….as if nothing else happen here in this country…
Well any way the news over here at the residence are that I am becoming very introspective, that I am working hard in the kitchen because the guy that help us, quited for another job, so at the moment I’m the cooker, so I go jogging every mornig at six, then some yoga then breakfast for everyone…
I like this life, although being in the kitchen the whole day is really exhausting, and also I wonder if I am becoming a “lonelyer” person than before…but the truth is I’m getting a hard time to relate to others, I prefer to be working on something…for example we knitted a chair, planned the residence chronogram for january, and read poetry…
Internet is very frustating here, it comes and goes, and I depend on somebody to go to the town to an internet cafe…
I’ll send you photos when I go to Montenegro because here it’s not easy to do it with cellphone modem!
I must go to bed now, it is late here at 10 pm!!! I know it sounds crazy …but you know how life in the country side is!!!
have a very nice dia de las velitas!
till 2morro
kiss
a
embroidery II
I so much prefer yours.
M
embroidery
my client at the moment is doing portraits of people involved in embroidery.
different type than yours though.
back to work…
m
flu monday
Adriana,
I have the flu. very very runny nose,
cough,
blood shot eyes,
grave voice.
Charming…
The way I work its very different. I have a sketch book which for me is like a collection of images, notes and thoughts. Some times drawings, newspaper cuts, etc.
At the moment apart from the portraits I mentioned before, I am working with another friend on something we envisage (at the moment) as a book. A recipe book. It is called Food of War.
Llama the short film you saw, its a piece that somehow and without planning connects to this work. It was shot in Bolivia. I was there filming for a friend who is doing her PHD on Carnaval de Oruro. It is a seminal carnaval in the Bolivian Calendar. As many celebrations, this one is a thankful gesture to mother earth and the change of season (agricultural). The gentleman in the film are miners and as you have probably guessed the Llamas will be cooked, shared and enjoyed by everybody. The amount of alcohol consumed reminded me to a friday night in the north of england with the difference that the warmth and honesty of these people is totally contagious.
As part of the research we are going to travel to Israel and Palestine during the christmas period. The idea will be to visit many countries ( including our beloved) at war and research about food and war. I guess it is just our excuse to talk about war.
Here is an image from one of the colombian national newspapers that became iconic in our research:
I call the sketch book Bitácora. Which in english its something like a dossier…. I think.
I try to make the Bitácora as fat as I can, believing that everything in there will influence me when I start shooting or photographing or recording a sound or simply talking to people. As you can imagine we are very excited about the trip. Very good friends filmmakers and artists will be our guides once we arrive in Palestine… will see…
The last leg of this dialogue will be not from London but Israel. Exciting.
I want to somehow take you with me…. Think about it…. I have to make a move know. Client is here…
I always welcome work but just now I wish I had less to do so I could concentrate on other things.
I am not whinging or anything….
Speak a bit later…. many of your questions I haven’t answer…
clieeeeeeeenttttttttt.
XXX
M
Creativity
Is that your finger vs door??
Today is a very calm saturday here at the Residence on Earth. There are 2 new residents which is nice, because you see other faces and hear other voices and listen to other stories.
Today I started embroidering again…I was so slow to take it on again…but I’m glad I did; as I told you before, embroidering is an slow motion drawing, and I feel it requires an inner force to sit down and put your mind on something so small and -again so sloow… but when I’m finally there it feels so right!
Doesn’t it happen to you that images or ideas seem to get away from you…?
As if you were blank, or black out?
How do you come out of creativity crisis?
How do you reach for the spirit of creation??
I am using jogging as a caller for the inner images, when I go out in the mornings, I try to observe as much as I can, to see where I can recognize something that helps me through….although Imust say, this time of my life has been so full of new things that I often find myself overwhelm with all the expierences that I am confronting.
You have been quiet or this week, I wonder what you are doing and what you are thinking? what does this project means to you? in your daily life?
I really hope to hear more from you!
“hakuna matata”
a.
door vs. finger
mio.
I like the way your mind sometimes work.
M
Noise
Hello Mónica!!
Yes I was a bit lost. Internet is not always there so easy….
I’ve been busy, taking care of things this week at the residence.
Of course I have made lots of videos hoping to show them to you, It’s nice because you have become my “roadmate”…travelling around with me!
I saw your red and black video, it is very hectic. But do you like it? urban life can also be very nice. I have become a very peasant-like person but big cities I like them too…
I saw your video of the Llama, which impressed me very much. that heart bumping after death, the look of the llama, the confusion….very touching in a strong way…. you leaved me thinking…. Where did you filmed?
Were you on the camera…?
From here I can tell you that I am also working hard in the residence on earth, i came to support him with the begging of the project, desig workshops, invitations, projects. It has been a ver nice experience and lots of work. But it is nice, I’m not in the mood for leisure time; I like to move around a little. Bogotá, or cities in general, make me more sendentary… Here i make a lot of exercise, so it’s nice!
Nice if you could come all the way to this place! It is in fact open to everyone if you know there is somebody interested incoming, this a nice place to be. My plan is to stay until january. Work a little bit on the kitchen to survive, and try to continue travelling throughtout Colombia. I really dont feel like going back to my usual life. I need to find a new road, a new way to work it out!
Girl, I send you here a small video, I hope you like it.
[flickr video=4156921888]
hasta mañana!!
buenos noches
a
silence…
missing your videos…
here a bit of my nature:
and a very early morning shot.
Hope everything is ok on your side.
speak soon.
M
bamboo
A,
How are things? Life down here is hectic as always. The weather is getting nasty. The rain hasn’t abandoned us and the temperature drops. No mercy. Umbrellas break. My left knee detests the cold and starts to hurt, scars from an accident some years ago. Pre-christmas time.
You don’t want to go back home and here I am desperate to get away for a few weeks.
No bamboo shots from this side of the Atlantic I am afraid
just this:
I am jealous of the tranquility you are experiencing at the moment. Being close to nature.
Your colours seem to be greens, lush, fresh whereas mine are nocturnal reds at the moment.
[flickr video=4151460910]
Pre-christmas period…puf
…tiring
intense
coooold
Here the link to one of my films:
password:llama
There has been another monumental fire near the place I live. This time in peckham south london.
According to the news 300 people had to leave their homes.
Displacement. Just like at home. Different reason though.
Sleep well dear Adriana.
making sense
Hello dear Monica,
How are you? How was your weekend? How has this week started?
From this side of the planet, I can tell you I have had a busy week already. Yesterday was very good, cleaning up, washing, cooking. I’ve realize that I like doing this kind of household works, I mean, I really like to wash my cloths, and cook my meals, and take care of my stuff. It makes me want to do something about it, but still don’t know what. Movement and activity are a good mix to make sense out of life.
Life here is nice but at the same time I am passing through a phase in which I have to make sense, or find sense in daily life, because all my life change and yet I havent come with no definite answer…
I am sending you a photo of the bamboo forest that I passed by every day;
natural phenomenon has become something interesting to look at. It is very good to learn about yourself. Being here in the country side, as crazy as it seems it’s also strange and hard. I live with very few people and everyday I see more birds than humans.
I left Bogotá almost three months ago, I’ve been living in Cali, Medellín, Chinchiná, Manizales and now Montenegro, where the Residence on Earth is. I have nothing that makes me go back to Bogotá, and this the difficult part… because all I know is that I need to keep on going, only I dont know how. I hope it comes my way!
Please tell me more about you!
Mortal dance
When it rains all the flying ants come out, and fly towards light until they all die.
Toads and chickens have a feast. And the place is full of them everywhere.
Why do they do this?
I feel sometimes like them…
daily life
I guess the fat ants die happily …
MOnica!!
Missing you around here!!
How are you?
How was your weekend? what are you up to..?
Here things have been moving, today was the day to clean up, and cook, do the laundry, etc…
On the weekend we went to Cali, and I was making road movies I have not show you yet…but they are coming today…!!!
We have had some rainy days this week, and a lot of flying ants come to be around any lamp that is on, after them come big toads that eat until they are as fat as balloons…next day, come the chickens and the birds to eat the feast freely offer to them. These flying ants have gave me a lot to think about…Why do they come to die in such massive way flyig towards the light?…However they are amazing to watch… I’ll send you one more video of them to show how how they dance around the light, until they die….
happy saturday
hooray
happy that you like the new videos
please send me the the links to see your work!
today I’m going to Cali so I am sending you this video, one of the first experiments I’m making with my lack of technology… I am really like a grandmother who embroiders
How are you?
did you have some rest after hard work this week!?
have a nice saturday, here I’m sending this video,, which is not a big thing, is part of poetics of daily life…
great day
[flickr video=4140343517]
spider girl
Spider video:
loving it.
loving it.
It is soooooooo human
Embroidery:
I do like the fact you describe it as a slow motion process.
The first feeling I got from your pieces was movement. They really need to move. They are desperately looking for movement.
Have you actually seen my videos? Let me know . I should send you links to them.
At the moment I am working on portraits. Still photos. I do love portraits so much. Rickshaw drivers in soho- central london.
I have not photos here but will send you some tomorrow.
XXX
M
PS: what kind of house are you?
Also remember I work with technology everyday. If in doubt just ask.
Hi Dear Mónica
How are you today??
I saw your video and it all looks pretty amazing and super PRO!
I cant recognize you yet…
It seems like lots and lots of work!!! Great your finished and the weekend is coming…
I wonder how is your personal work, what kind of projects are you thinking or doing at the moment?
You ask me about my embroidery…well it´s hard to say… mostly I make an image in my head and embroider from that mental image…sometimes I take them from previous drawings…for example right now it is that way, I’m embroidering houses, or me as a house…I’ll show you soon but i just take a mental picture and embroider from that, don’t like to draw much on the fabric…I think of it a slowmotion drawing
I take a lot of time thinking on the subject to embroider because it is soooo sloooow that I have to believe in it for quiet a while….I hate to embroider as a machine so I take my time to do it…
But now Im so happy experimenting with videos, I have never ever done it, I want to use the poor resources that I have right now…
I made some webcam videos, but I have to check to see if they work as archives that can be send…
[flickr video=4139310322]
I hope we can chat more…
the only thing I dont like from here is that internet means: PRESSURE!!!
But I can handle it…I think!!
next coffee I will think of you dear!
hope you like this “innerstruggle”
hugs
a
computer down?
Just guessing. Let’s sort it out.
-Virgen del Carmen pop influence.
-Author: unknown. (Not from my collection. Nicked from Popular de Lujo)
Let’s see if this one helps. Hoping we can talk tomorrow.
XXXXX
M
PS: I am in a chat with a british film director called Tony Kaye. He is talking about design and playing some music.
Actually hoping you were online. Enjoy the silence of the coffee area region (zona cafetera). I totally lack of it here.
placid
[flickr video=4136028208]
Very calming piece of video you filmed. The sounds are amazing. Makes me realise how hectic everything is at the moment down here. Sometimes so much I just get used to it. I guess that’s how London life is, work, rush. Not much time to sit and think.
Here is the launch of that product we made the audiovisual stuff for. The reason I didn’t sleep two nights ago… You can see me fooling around some of the screens.
I am curious about your embroidery process. How do you approach a subject? Do you draw sketches? How that initial idea evolves/you make it evolve?
How long are you in Residence on Earth for?
The weekend is approaching, calming time at home. more time for dialogue.
I leave you for now. Speak later.
M
PS: I am pleased la mano poderosa worked!
hope I can send u videos
Dear monica
how are you?
Here everything has been running out of place.
I believe that is how it works, we can not scape from and order that is “energetically” stablish… I dont know…Living in the Residence on earth, has brought a lot up in me.
Yet, I have very few tools to work with, I can only embroider, but I cant find the space and time to do it. I think I have to give back the camera, which leaves me only with my web cam. This lack of resources can also be very interesting… so I’m going to start exploring other media.
Today my computer got back to life. Yesterday it was worthless, it was a piece of machinery lying death on my table. But it is as if everything got back on place…so today it has resuscitated…. for good!!! ( I hope)
So I’m going to try to upload this very short videos I have made to show you details from the place that I live.
I’m thinking a lot about many issues: sense, sexuality, place in the world,etc… I assume that everything I am interested in at the moment,it’s reflected on the images I look for, in a way…
I just saw that is not possible to upload the videos here!!!
they have to be very very small
it is a pity!
I have an idea I’m going to use my flickr to send you short videos!
I just saw you send “la mano poderosa” I think it work out becasue my computer is now working!!!
THANKS A LOT
big hugs
I’m going to try sending all videos
que te rinda
ciao
here goes the link: [flickr video=4134245510]
a.
la mano poderosa
A,
Hope you are better today. I had a very long night working trying to reach a deadline. We are nearly there. Here is a photo I took last night for you. It is my laptop while I was waiting for the computer to render. I am not sure I understood everything you mentioned about the police incident. After reading you message and closing my browser The powerful hand was looking at me and I decided to send it to you. Its not going to help you at all but at least will pull out a smile (hopefully) . I have a very long collection of religious popular images. I have been working with them for long time. I guess those were the first “arty” images I ever had contact with. The blond, handsome, uber white, blue eyed Jesus. Occasionally they pop out and sit on my desktop. How was the first contact you had with your practice?
What I most miss about Colombia: The Andes and las guanabanas
I let you know, hopefully it won’t take you long to fix your computer and chat again.
M
deadlines
They are horrible. Just wanted to say hello. We speak tomorrow. Long night ahead.
waiting
for you to say something dear monica!
i hope you are doing fine!
today has been a very weird day…yesterday I got a ticket and today my computer died, on what sort of things does this depend?
Today I am very sad over my computer…
I hope you have anice day
i gotta go!
hugs
bogotá
Hello Monica!
Wow many things to say…uyes is weird to write in English, but that’s the rule!
I am also from bogotá and lived in Suba for a while… in the hills (cerros de suba, this does sounds funny)!!!
Honda is one the most beautiful towns that I ve seen here, dont you think!?
I will try to stay as long as I can here in Quindio, I just got a ticket form the police, it is a lot of many and it changes all my plans!!! I’m trying to hae the best attitude…but with little success yet.. is vvery sad to pay such amount in something that is like an innocent mistake…. buuuh!
anyway, now i have to figure out what to do..
Your work sounds really fun and interesting!
I tr to upload the “road movies” but the are to heavy….I must prevent you because I am very bad camarographer, I make videos without any techinical knowledge, very spontaneusly!!!
It is nice althought to make “things” for you… So I have an idea, what if you ask for the things you would really like to see, all that makes you curious, or nostalgic, or that you would like to see from this place…?
Like “homework” but more as gifts to you…. Do yo u like the idea?
I would like to ask you thing about your daily life may be too…
Busmovie sounds good to me…
I am happy to know you are feeling better!!!
we will talk tomorrow then, I am going to try to put my mind on the issue to resolve!
have a great night and a good new day!
chau
hello hello
Adriana,
Feeling well today.I guess it was just a virus or something like that. I am working at the moment. Finishing some editing for a website. I work with a small production & post-production company and we do all sort of stuff. From commercials to digital installations. We are small which makes work very enjoyable. We laugh a lot. I am an editor and a colourist and many other things that sometimes are needed. I spend many hours in front of a computer. I also work on my own personal projects. At the moment using photography and portraits.
I had a look at some of the pieces you have on the IAA site and I have to say I found them extremely powerful, honest and direct. I would love to know more about them.
To answer your questions: I am from Bogota, Suba. I have been out the country for ten years on and off. Last time I went back was two years ago. I was doing research for a film on the Magdalena river. It was a “river movie” . I travelled from Honda to the end of the river in the Atlantic ocean. At the time, I was working mainly on Super8 and some of the images I managed to capture were really astonishing. I will put some of them online…
Most of my family still live in Bogota with the exception of my two brothers. One of them lives here and the other one in Chile. Please stay in Quindio as long as you can. The weather and the people are just wonderful.
I was wondering if you heard something about a red alert regarding Galeras volcano in Nariño. Images of Armero come to my mind…
Let´s hope nothing bad happens.
I have to get back to work. I need to upload my work to be approved by clients…
It is dark here ….
I will make a ¨bus movie¨ for you to have an idea of the area where I live.
Speak later.
M
PS: It feels a bit weird speaking in english knowing you also speak spanish…
Monday
Hi Monica!
How are you today? Are you feeling better?
I hope so…. How long have you been out of Colombia?
have you come recently? From which city are you from?
today i was making “road movies” to show you. I love the green of Colombia also, is true that is LUSH, and this zone where coffee grows it’s really amazing…have ever come here? I really want to stay here for a while…
tell me more about yourself
I hope you are doing fine!
Lush
colombian greens are lush. Déjà vu
View from my desk
this is the view to my right. nice, isn’t?
Nice light
that seems like a very nice light!
I’m going to take a picture of where I’m right now, and try to see how to post it
get well soon!
just
i just came to my studio as I have no internet at home. It is in south london, brixton. I have been a little bit ill so getting out of bed was painful. It is sunny at the moment. Autumn light is just wonderful. let me take a photo and will send it to you. m
Testing
Good morning Monica!! Dont worry I’ve here exploring and testing and comitting mistakes!! Nice to meet you! Breda said it weas raining in London, where are you?
Beautiful morning
Hi Adriana, good morning. Sorry I am a bit late. It’s been a eventful morning. It is a beautiful morning here. I am going to test if you have received this message. Monica
in Montenegro
HEllo, thanks Breda once again for this great project!
Hello Monica nice to meet you, -the other post I was worried and I didn’t know well what I was doing… first days are always confusing
Right now I’m living in Montenegro, Quindio, Colombia.
I live in a country state that is now becoming an artistic residence. I came to help my friend organize the whole thing, and also because I wanted to get away from the city, and live other situations. I’ve been travelling for almost three months now, before I was touring with an exhibition that is called HARTAS ARTISTAS, through other to cities in Colombia: Cali and Medellín. Then I continued to Manizales and now I’m living this wonderful place.
Welcome
Welcome to imagine art after! Adriana, Monica, where are you now? What are you up to?
